Ireland odds Eurovision 2018

Back in January, RTE announced that former Britain's got Talent and The Voice Ireland contestant, Ryan O'Shaughnessy, will represent Ireland at this year's Eurovision, which is being held in Lisbon in May. The Dublin singer/songwriter - who starred as Mark Halpin on Fair City for ten years - will perform a ballad named 'Together' which he co-wrote with Mark Caplice and Laura Elizabeth Hughes. The song was chosen by industry professionals, songwriters and performers from over 300 entries to RTE's Eurovision Song Contest Forum.

Ryan was born in Dublin in 1992, the youngest of three children in a musical family, and began attending stage school at just four years old.Aged eight, he was selected to play the character of Mark Halpin in RTÉ’s long running soap opera Fair City, a role he filled for nine years. He also took a music course at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music, and plays guitar, piano and saxophone as well as being a singer, songwriter and sometime producer. After becoming one of the artists on the songwriting talent show The Hit, Ryan reached No.3 in the Irish chart with the song “Who Do You Love?” in 2013. Three years later, he set up his own label, Bayview Records, in Dublin.

Speaking about being selected to perform at Eurovision 2018, he said: “As one of three songwriters on “Together”, I’m delighted it has been chosen to represent Ireland, and on top of that, to be asked to perform for my country is an absolute honour. I plan on doing Ireland proud.”

"For years my family has been involved in Eurovision. My uncle sung in 2001 - Gary O’Shaughnessy - for Ireland. It’s been in the pipeline," he said. "My mam said to me every year ‘you have to enter a song this year’ and I never really did. It was always kind of pushed back."

Speaking about the video, which sees a young couple strolling through the streets of Temple Bar, O'Shaughnessy said: "It was amazing seeing the video come to life in the way it did, sticking with the original concept that love is universal and there are testing moments in every relationship.

The video was directed by Christian Tierney who has worked with artists including The Weeknd, Macklemore, Demi Lovato, Kendrick Lamar, Drake,The 1975, and James Bay. The promo was choreographed by Ciaran Connolly who has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry, on television and major arena tours, including Take That, Robbie Williams, Katherine Jenkins, Darcey Bussell, Michael Buble, Will Young, Cheryl Cole and Girls Aloud.

The dancers performing in the video are Alan McGrath (who previously performed as a backing dancer and drummer for Ryan Dolan's “Only Love Survives” Eurovision performance in Malmo in 2013) and Kevin O'Dwyer.

Ryan will perform the ballad in the first Eurovision semi final on Tuesday, May 8, in the Altice Arena which has a capacity of 20,000 and is one of the largest indoor arenas in Europe. On the last four occasions, Ireland have failed to reach the final.